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Sparrows hang out on some tree limbs at Lake Casitas. This is nesting season, and humans can help birds survive this time of year by keeping their cats inside and placing decals on windows to avoid bird strikes. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Just as the early bird catches the worm, so does the early birdwatcher catch the best sightings.

Frank DeMartino, who is heading up the Ventura sector of the local Audubon 117th Christmas Bird Count, said he was out near Lake Casitas around 6:30 a.m. to see the resident bald eagles start the day.

“You have to be out here bright and early,” he told the group of about eight who braved the morning chill to come out to the lake to count birds.

During the annual Ventura County Christmas Bird Count, dozens of avid birdwatchers fan out across fields, hike up mountains and go to sea to count as many birds as they can.

DeMartino said the annual count usually takes place the first weekend of the year, which falls into the time frame of Dec. 14-Jan. 5, as mandated by the Audubon Society.

But this year, with the Christmas and New Year holidays falling on Sundays, the bird count had to be moved ahead to Dec. 17 to fall within the prescribed period.

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Sparrows hang out on some tree limbs at Lake Casitas. This is nesting season, and humans can help birds survive this time of year by keeping their cats inside and placing decals on windows to avoid bird strikes.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)

Because of the scheduling change, DeMartino said there were fewer people available to cover the various sites within the Ventura area, which is a circle of land and sea where all birds that can be spotted are counted each year.

“We usually have between 10 and 20 people here, but this year there are other Christmas bird counts in other areas. Tomorrow is the Thousand Oaks count,” DeMartino said. “In Ventura, we have a couple of people out on the ocean, some are at the (Ojai Valley) waste water treatment plant, others are at the mouths of the Santa Clara and Ventura rivers.”

Jean VanHulzen, who lives in Klamath Falls, Oregon, said she participates in the Ventura County bird count each year when she visits her daughter in Ojai.

While the group was complaining about the cold before heading out to spend the morning walking through the Casitas Lake campgrounds, VanHulzen was receiving notes from others participating in the bird count in Oregon.

“It’s 1 degree there. That’s why I’m here,” VanHulzen said of the relatively balmy 40 degrees it was at the lake around 8 a.m.

“I’ve been watching migratory birds all my life,” she said. “Every year is different.”

Stephen Bylin of Thousand Oaks said he has seen birds from all over the world with his wife, Bonnie Clarfield-Bylin.

“The most impressive were the emperor penguins in Antarctica,” Bylin said.

With the volume of water at Lake Casitas continuing to fall because of the ongoing drought, fewer waterfowl have been included in the annual count over the past five years, DeMartino said. However, other birds are coming to Ventura County that haven’t in the past.

Bob Love of Ventura said he spotted an American white pelican at Ventura Harbor, rather than in its natural inland habitat.

Bylin said he and his wife were out birding near Lake Sherwood recently. “We saw a flock of white pelicans. One of them was tagged, and when the tag was looked up, it turned out the bird had been tagged in Idaho four years ago,” Bylin said.

The group split into three teams. Smaller groups tend not to scare off birds, DeMartino said as he led his band along the north side of the lake, where they were hoping to see some wild turkeys.

“It’s kind of hit or miss with wild turkeys. You tend to see them when they cross the road when you are driving around,” he said.

The annual Christmas bird count is one of the oldest “citizen science” efforts, DeMartino said, where anyone with binoculars and a field guide is invited to count birds. Those numbers are used to track various species, especially the rapidly declining songbird population.

“One of my favorite groups of birds — the warblers — are being the hardest hit,” DeMartino said.

After spending the day birdwatching, the Ventura group planned a potluck dinner where all of the numbers will be tabulated. The Thousand Oaks sector Christmas Bird Count is planned for Dec. 19.

The information from the Ventura County bird count will be tabulated and sent to the national Audubon Society, which will make it available online. For more information about the Audubon Society, including links to the Christmas bird count, go online to http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.